Returning Bird
by Acinorev17
Summary: Dick left for two years and doesn't know that Barbara has given birth to twins, which are now over a year old (14- 15 months.). He comes home to realise one or two things about him self as well as the woman he left behind. But as always the Joker never was content with sitting on the sidelines…
1. Prologe: Barbara

**A/N I do sadly not own any of the batman characters, they belong to DC comics/ their rightful owners. I do own the kids, so don't steal!**

* * *

In an apartment two blocks from the police headquarters in GothamCity, there lived a woman with a young girl and two infants. The apartment wasn't big; it was in a pretty rundown house and consisted of only one bedroom, one living room and kitchen. The bedroom wasn't very big, but it did have room for one single bed and two children beds, the single bed was pushed so it was at the further long side, while one of the small beds was placed on the near long side, just at the door and the other at the short side, but it was a tight fit. At the opposite short side there was a small desk at which one of the occupants made her homework at. In the beds were three individuals that almost could be mistaken for being related. The two small beds held two small, dark haired children, one boy and one girl. The boy's hair was straight and it reached down into his forehead as he slept, while his sister's hair was curly and spread out across the pillow. Had their eyes been open, they would have shown twin pairs of aquamarine eyes, as clear as the Mediterranean Sea itself. The occupant of the single bed is a girl in her mid teens, with dark, dark brown hair in a page, a slight sprinkle of freckles over her nose. Her eyes are chocolate brown, when they're not closed in peaceful slumber. Out in the living room, there is an open sofa bed, with its covers tossed out and at the window, with its view of GCPD headquarters, there stand a woman. Her hair is loose, and the fire red curls drapes over her narrow shoulders. She's slim and fit, though not very tall. Dressed in a knee long, dark blue, night dress, she stares out into thin air, lost in the memories of what she used to be and what has been. In her hand is a picture of a young red head with her arms around a handsome man with jet black hair. Her smile is for the camera, his is for her. From the woman's eyes fall the tears of sorrow, of pain, loneliness and the regret of a wrong choice. The aquamarine of her eyes shine brighter as the street lights reflect off the tears that linger. The woman is Barbara Gordon, daughter of the Chief Commissioner of GothamCity. The small children inside are the ones she had with a man she loves over everything else, but who left her without even a good bye, and the teenager a child she rescued from the streets. This was not her plan for her life.

* * *

**A/N Alright first chapter up, feel free to give reviews! **


	2. Homecoming: Dick

**Sorry that it has taken so long, school has really been stressful. I want to thank all who has so many nice reviews over this time, and all who have favorited or followed this story. I don't own anything but the plot and the children, I'm working on the next chapter and hope to be done within this week with it. Enjoy!**

* * *

Wayne Manor sits on its high hill as a haunted house, dark and unfriendly. Maybe it's the fact that it is heavily raining in the middle of the night, the dark clouds covering the sky, maybe it is due to all the dark secrets and memories that it holds within. There are few people who have ever known all of these, two lonely men and a butler. And a woman, the most extraordinary and beautiful creature in the world, to him, she means everything. Richard John Grayson sits there, in the dark and cold, letting the rain wash away his grief of a life he lost. Slowly, he glided up the driveway to the manors front door. Quickly wiping his face, he walked the steps up to the door. Breathing deeply, he reached out and rang the door bell. The sound echoed in the house, and he could almost hear the pristine, correctly proportioned steps coming from within. Suddenly the bolt was unlocked, and the old hinges creaked a bit as the heavy wooden door swung open. An old, dear face became known in the dim light of the hallway. Dick felt a flood of fondness and love flow over him, something he didn't expect.

"M-master Dick…I- welcome home, my boy!" Alfred's old face became alight in joy and surprise at the sight of the boy he'd always viewed as his grandson. Tears welled up in the old mans eyes and he had to make use of every trick in his experience as a butler not to latch on to the younger man and never let go. After all, that was Master Bruce and Miss Gordon's job. Dick however had no qualms about throwing his arms around his old caretaker and squeezing him hard. The former acrobat had tears in his eyes as well at the sight of the one person who had always loved him unconditionally. In his travels, he had always made sure to let his foster family know that he was alright, primarily because he didn't want Alfred to worry now that he was older. Alfred squeezed back just as hard, if not more so. He had a feeling that every thing was going to work out in the end now that Dick was home. It felt so good to have him home.

"I am going to make us some tea young master, and then I'll take you to your room" Alfred stated and led his young charge, chuckling about how things were just the same, to the kitchen

"Master Bruce, I'm afraid, won't be joining us until tomorrow; there was an urgent business meeting in Shanghai I believe." Alfred explained as he led Dick up the stairs to his old bedroom later on in the evening. Dick shrugged truth to be told he didn't really care if Bruce was home or not, neither about what he was doing. It was almost a relief though that he wouldn't be jumping out of the shadows like a ghost though. Upon reaching the door to his old bedroom, Alfred insisted to open the door for his former charge.

Dick was taken aback for a second, his room looked exactly like it had when he left it, -apart from that Alfred had vacuumed it, cleaned it and had probably sorted all his clothes including socks and boxes- which were far from what he anticipated. He'd believed that Bruce would have filled up his room with computers or training equipment. As Dick was looking around his room to see if anything was different, Alfred placed his bags by the bed for the young man to unpack when he felt like it. It was unnecessary to push the boy about moving back in, he thought. Chances were he would turn and run as fast as he'd arrived, and the old butler wanted his grandson home for awhile. Seeing that the bed was without sheets, he merrily went to get some.

Opening to the room where they stored the linen, he smiled softly at the sight of baby toys, a spare baby carriage, and a spare changing table, racks that now held baby powder, stuffed animals, baby sheets and diapers. The room had been made into a small storage supply of all a baby could need, since it had been far too big for only bed sheets. Bruce had insisted that they would equip the manor into a house that didn't lack anything for small children. The old butler happily began to gather the beddings while remising about the months that had passed. Miss Barbara had spent quite a large bit of her pregnant time in the manor at Master Bruce wishes. She and Alfred had been the only stable thing in his world since Dick left, but Alfred had seen a remarkable change in his approach after Miss Gordon started to show. From then on, he had focused on anything a child could possibly want from his/her grandfather. He went to check up's with her, and often young Master Tim, read baby books, went through list of things that needed to be bought into or changed in the house…and when the children finally had been born there couldn't possible had been a prouder grandfather in the world, with the exceptions of Mr Gordon and himself of course.

Bruce loved his grand children; they were so like Dick, and dependent on him, as well as loving to him. Alfred had often walked into his office in these last couple of months to find the billionaire playing on the floor with the children, forsaking all other things. Even young Timothy had taken to the small lives, and he was eager as any to help with feeding and playing. In a way, Alfred thought that it was Miss Barbara's merit that Tim had been able to fit in to the Wayne household. He saw Barbara as a surrogate sister/ mother and the little ones as his siblings. Bruce became once again a mentor, not only in the life of vigilantes but also as a brother and care giver. It was not too often that any of them were able to care for the small twins, however. Barbara knew fully well the responsibilities of Batman and Robin and often thought that she was interfered with their other lives. Though both Master Bruce and he claimed that it was no nuisance at all, she still was reluctant in giving up the care of her children.

Bruce had therefore sat up both a saving and a regular account for the kids that helped her live in a decent apartment while she worked part time and Annie, the young orphan she'd taken in roughly half way through her pregnancy, went to school and babysat most nights. Sometimes, Annie would come by and baby sit and study at the manor, since she and Tim shared a majority of their classes. Miss Gordon often drove her to the gates on her way to work as a secretary at the police station, where someone would meet her, often Tim or Alfred, and escort the trio up the driveway. This both helped in getting Annie time to study and the Wayne family time to spend with their youngest. Alfred had been very amused to see that young Master Timothy was more interested in studying her than the subject.

Suddenly, he was wrenched from his thoughts by heavy foot steps coming his way. Quickly, he grabbed what he needed and rushed to the door. There, he almost didn't have time to exit in a calm matter and close the door. Dick was perplexed over the elder man's rush to close the door to the linen closet. Curious, he tried to get a peak before it completely shut, but only saw bed sheets.

"Well then, Master Dick, shall we continue back to the room? I believe I have what you need" and with that he promptly ushered Dick back towards his bedroom, but not until he heard the lock to the door click. What was going on around here?

* * *

AN/ Ok so there it is, hope you liked it, the next chapter is probably coming up later today or within this week!


	3. Secret's Out: Wayne household

**AN/ Sorry for taking so long, school has really been giving me a har time but I'll try to update more frequently from now on. Anyway, I don't own anything but the plot and my OC's in this story. Sorry for it being a short chapter and enjoy!**

* * *

The next morning, Dick awoke slightly disoriented, before remembering the previous day. Yawning, he noted that it was around nine and that Alfred probably wouldn't let him sleep in anymore. He got up and took a warm shower in his private bathroom. As he was drying of, he noticed a fallen picture on his bookshelf. After grabbing it, he realised that it was his favourite picture of him and Babs. She was beaming into the camera, her blue green eyes shining with joy, as he was smiling softly down at her. How could he not look at her? She was brilliant, with her red hair, passionate personality and scorching eyes. Sometimes he'd compared her to wildfire, because everything about her was ablaze, from her hair to her eyes and her attitude.

He'd wanted to be surprised when he'd found out what she'd been doing at night, but he hadn't. Shocked, yes, because his mind had not dared to even consider that it was her. Frightened, because she was the dearest he had and he could not bear to see her hurt. And anger, anger at both her for not telling him, himself for not figuring it out and protected her sooner, and anger at Batman, who had figured it out but who wasn't protecting her and who didn't tell his partner that his girlfriends life was in danger every night. But that was how Babs was; always caring about other people, always ready to step in and offer a hand… it was that that had attracted him from the beginning, her humanity and kindness. He'd thought they fitted so well together, he could see himself raising a family with her and quitting the vigilante life for good. All the anger he'd felt about the injustice in the world had melted in her mere presence, only she could truly remind him that they were making a difference in this dark town. She'd been his light bringer, his hope, love, soul mate even. But then everything had come to an end that night. He'd left, run in anger and betrayal; travelled the world to get rid of the emptiness she used to fill in his heart.

Now he was back, but he wasn't sure he was ready to face her and possible suitors. He wanted to confess that he still loved her, but after his actions, she probably wouldn't want anything to do with him anymore. Cleaning the dusty picture up a little bit, he placed it back onto the shelf. Heading downstairs, he caught the sound of Alfred talking to someone, a young person if his ears didn't betray him. Coming into the spacious kitchen, he was surprised to see a young boy about fifteen sitting at the kitchen table along with Bruce, who as usual had his face stuck in the morning's paper, while Alfred was at the stove making another serving of scrambled eggs. As the elder men grew aware of the newcomer, the younger one kept talking about his adventures in the Gotham underworld, which led Dick to realize that this was the new Robin he'd both heard and seen about. Trading a look with his old mentor, he snuck up behind the unsuspecting boy and then grabbed at him.

"YYEEAAOOOUUHH!" the younger one screeched and almost lifted from his seat in fright. Dick chuckled at his reaction while Bruce quirked one of his small smiles and Alfred sighed.

"Gotta be more prepared than that, kiddo" the former Robin smirked before seating himself as far away from his benefactor as possible. As he turned to Alfred to request some breakfast he missed the look of remorse and hurt that flashed over the older mans face at the rejection.

"Soo, who are you?" Tim finally asked after seeing the man wolf down two servings of eggs.

"Me? Why I'm just your procedure. I used to be Robin before. I'm Dick Grayson" he said and reached over his hand for Tim to shake. Tim shook it and responded with his own name.

"Tim Drake, I'm the current Robin. Man I'm a big fan! Some of those tricks you could do I'll never be able to do…" he stopped himself briefly before going on" But, aren't you then… Are you here to see Babs then? You know, and the…" he was interrupted by Alfred.

"Master Tim, I do believe it's time to rush off to school" and with that he rushed the youngest out of the house, leaving the father and son alone in the grand kitchen. Bruce looked at the younger male. At the mention of Barbara, Dick had frozen stiff in his chair, and the elder was silently awaiting the reaction to that Tim knew about their relationship.

"I saw the headlines" he spoke gravely and evenly, which made Bruce do a double take. "They have been painting her out at the new future Mrs Wayne for months. I didn't want to believe it at first, for crying out Bruce she's what fifteen years younger than you! And to drag Tim into it, not only the crime fighting you three do but into your relationship!" Bruce reacted

"What- no WHO are you talking about" he asked stonily.

"Barbara of course! You mean to tell me you haven't seen the headlines, what they are saying about you two. I-I barely had time to get out of the picture before you swooped in and carried her away into some fairy tail" Bruce tried to interrupt and calm his son.

"No, Dick! I would never-"

"Because I was the irresponsible one, I didn't deserve to have something you didn't have"

"Dick you're being ridiculous it's not-"

"But of course I'm ridiculous I always am! Tell me do you make Tim go out on his Own while you sit at home making out as teenagers?"  
"ENOUGH! I have heard just about all I can take from you!" Bruce raised his voice.

"That's not going to work this time, because I am a grown man and I deserve the truth for once. Why did you start dating my girlfriend, the one you knew I wanted to marry one day, just after I gone away? I mean-"

"YOU WILL BE SILENT, YOU STUPID BOY! THE ONLY REASON WE'VE BEEN SEEN TOGETHER IS BECAUSE YOU LEFT HER _PREGNANT_ AND I HAD TO STEP UP AND TRY BEING SUPPORTIVE FOR HER!" Bruce roared at the top of his lungs.

* * *

**A/N Ok so the secret's out and I would be really happy if you leave a review and also a GREAT thank you to all the wonderful people who has been leaving coments and has favorited/ following this story!**


End file.
